Chicken Piccata with Bright Lemon Caper White Wine Sauce
By Emma Collins
Prep
25 min
Cook
30 min
Total
55 min
Servings
4
Level
Easy
Precook four servings of breaded chicken to use during the week or freeze the finished skillet meal for easy weeknight meals. One dish you might prepare is Chicken Piccata, which uses breaded chicken with Parmesan and flour and a sauce made with white wine, lemon, capers, and butter.
The dredging mixture consists of flour, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. These are used to dredge the chicken. The chicken is cooked in a pan with olive oil and butter. Shredded garlic and pan drippings are cooked in a wine reduction and mixed with capers, broth, and lemon juice. Cold butter is stirred into the wine reduction over low heat. Fresh parsley is reserved as a garnish. Freshly grated Parmesan cheese is dredged along with the chicken.
Batch-cook the chicken. For browning, not steaming, cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. As much of the wine cooks off, the sauce will reduce a bit while the lid is loosely on. The biggest mistake people make is not pounding the chicken to 1/4-inch thickness. If the chicken is not pounded thin, pieces will puff up and cook unevenly. Save some browned pan flecks to add to the reduced wine sauce.
Serve these chicken recipes with Creamy Herb Pasta, Parmesan Garlic Pasta, Buttered Noodles, potatoes, or other roasted vegetables from the article. When serving leftovers, consider dividing the chicken from the sauce to use as a topping for chicken at another meal. The sauce can be used with other pasta or noodle dishes and will add lemon and caper flavors to other dishes.
Why this recipe works
- Makes four servings in one pan. The same pan can be used to serve dinner and freeze portions of chicken and sauce for other meals.
- The recipe includes a lot of sauce, so stored portions will taste like lemon and caper sauce when combined with noodles or other ingredients.
- Freezing leftovers is one way this chicken recipe can save time, since you can freeze the leftover sauce and chicken together in airtight containers.
- Reheating dishes with sauces is convenient because you can warm the meat again and soak up additional flavor from white wine, chicken stock, lemon, and capers.
- Batch searing prevents overcrowding of the pan and adds flavor and color to the chicken for serving in sauce. These qualities help make multiple servings of the dish taste and feel right.
- Cold butter is added at the end of sauce preparation to help the sauce come together and portion it.
Ingredients
- •2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
- •1 tsp salt
- •½ tsp pepper
- •½ cup flour
- •¼ cup Parmesan cheese (finely grated)
- •1 tsp garlic powder
- •3 Tbsp olive oil
- •1 Tbsp salted butter
- •½ cup dry white wine (such as chardonnay or pinot grigio)
- •4 cloves garlic (thinly sliced)
- •2 Tbsp capers (drained)
- •1 cup chicken broth
- •2 Tbsp lemon juice
- •2 Tbsp salted butter (cold)
- •¼ cup fresh parsley (roughly chopped)
Instructions
- 1
Combine the flour, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, salt, and pepper on a large plate. Set aside.
- 2
Cut each chicken breast into 3 thinner slices.
- 3
Place the chicken between saran wrap and pound it very thin, about 1/4 inch thick, using a meat tenderizer.
- 4
Pat the chicken dry and dredge each side in the flour mixture. Tap off the excess.
- 5
Heat the olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- 6
Sear the chicken in batches for 3 to 4 minutes per side, until a golden crust develops. Add a splash of olive oil and/or reduce the heat as needed.
- 7
Set the chicken aside on a plate and turn off the heat.
- 8
Carefully wipe the pan, leaving a few browned bits in the skillet.
- 9
Add the wine and garlic, then set the heat to medium.
- 10
Let the wine bubble gently for 4 to 5 minutes, until only a small amount of liquid remains. Use a silicone spatula to scrape remaining browned flecks from the pan.
- 11
Add the capers, chicken broth, and lemon juice, then stir to combine.
- 12
Return the chicken and any juices from the plate to the skillet.
- 13
Spoon the sauce over the chicken, partially cover, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes.
- 14
Reduce the heat to low. Add the cold butter and let it melt into the sauce, then tilt the pan to distribute the sauce and spoon it over the chicken again. Remove from the heat.
- 15
Garnish with parsley and serve.
FAQ
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories
303
Protein
17g
Fat
17g
Carbs
16g
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